It all started when we decided to go into a stationary store called Il Papiro, we saw the inside from the street and were curious as to what all they had within the store. There was all sorts of handmade stationary, cards, and bound books as well as a collection of wax seal supplies and ink for fountain pens. It was going to be a short visit, until a lady offered to give us a demonstration of how they create the beautiful marbleized paper that they bind to their books and other various stationary items. It is something that was unique to the Tuscan region and so naturally Laura and I said sure, curious as to how they actually made these patterns. (So it is something they do it for the tourists, but we wanted to see it!)
It was an interesting process, a shallow rectangular tank is filled with distilled water and wallpaper paste. The artist picks three colors and lightly taps each color brush from right to left in order to add colors to the paste, the color expands on the surface and then the artist manipulates the colors with a stick or comb (or even a combination of the two.) in order to achieve the desired pattern and scheme. Last step is to set the paper face down on the color mixture and tap it abit so it absorbs the design and colors. It was really quite cool to watch!
The store was very expensive, and rightfully so with all the beautiful paper and handmade items, so after that demonstration we were ready to leave the beautiful shop and head to the Central Market. But here is where we met the master of the beautiful paper works and owner of the shop.
This elderly man, who merely introduced himself as Johnny, took a keen interest in us from the moment we walked in. Asking us where we were from and what we were doing in Florence. Naturally Laura and I were hesitant to tell him too much about us but as we spoke with him he seemed friendly and honestly not trying to get us to buy anything like many of the street vendors or berate us for just coming in and not buying anything. It wasn't until we got to telling him we were an Art and Architecture major at LdM that his eyes seem to light up and he asked us if we wanted a go at making the designs we had just seen demonstrated previously.
It was an unbelievable offer and Laura and I agreed because the artist in us was itching to try the old technique that had been done for so many years in Tuscany.
It was just like watercolor splatter painting!
Taking the spatters and swirling them.
The master of this art was with us the whole time, teaching us patterns!
My finished paper in the "Flame" pattern. Naturally I chose to use blue, yellow, and green!
It was an amazing experience to be sure and we even got to keep our beautiful works we created right then and there free of charge! Johnny wrapped them up, handed them to us, and said it was our apprenticeship diploma and that he wanted us to stop by and see him again sometime before we leave just to say hi! (And perhaps come buy from him later, which I am totally tempted!)
Johnny dubbed both of us apprentices, just like back in Gothic and Renaissance whenever someone was learning an art technique or skill! We even got him to pose for a picture for the folks back home!I donno if he is like this to all students who come in but I really doubt it since not many students take such keen interest in works like this, Laura and I felt honored to have met him and gotten to try this form of art. Florence just continues to amaze me!
Ciao!
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